Asylum Seekers

Baroness Hussein-Ece: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average length of time that women who apply for asylum claiming to be raped or tortured are detained in immigration detention centres; and what considerations govern such detentions.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Home Office’s Central Information Database (CID) does not centrally hold information on the number of women who apply for asylum claiming to be raped or tortured. Therefore, we are unable to provide information on the average length of time that these women are detained in immigration detention centres.
	However, the Home Office only detains individuals for whom there is independent evidence of torture in very exceptional circumstances.
	An individual’s suitability for detention is under constant review. In addition to this, doctors working in Immigration Removal Centres are required to report to the Home Office if they have any concerns over the health of a individual in order that the appropriateness of their continued detention may be reviewed

Asylum Seekers

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the statement in Democratic Republic of Congo Policy Bulletin 2014 published on 18 February that “enquiries made by Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in Kinshasa have found no evidence that returnees being removed from the United Kingdom to the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been mistreated”, whether returned failed asylum seekers from the United Kingdom are, or have been, monitored for the purpose of reviewing or scrutinising current removals guidance.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Home Office does not routinely monitor the treatment of individual failed asylum seekers who return to their home country and guidance is compiled from a number of sources, including information from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and other States.
	We believe that the best way to avoid ill-treatment is to make sure that we do not return those who are at risk. We do this by ensuring that trained caseworkers make the right decisions based on the circumstances of each individual case, and by providing a right of appeal to the independent courts.

Benefits

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the appropriateness of the application of welfare sanctions; and whether, and in what circumstances, they consider discretion should be used in respect of applications for benefits.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to ensure that welfare sanctions are applied for the shortest possible time and as a last resort.

Lord Freud: When people make claims for benefits, it is made very clear what the conditions are for receipt of that benefit, claimants will be sanctioned if they fail to meet mandatory requirements without good reason. The duration of sanctions is specified in legislation. All claimants have the right to appeal.
	The purpose of sanctions is to drive compliance with requirements designed to help people into work. Over 70% of claimants say they are more likely to follow the rules due to the threat of a sanction.

Benefits

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the range of delays between the approval of a welfare benefit claim and the receipt of the first payment.

Lord Freud: The information requested is not available.

Climate Change

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 8 November 2012 (WA 224–5), which states, on the basis of a model comprising a linear trend with autoregressive noise, that the rise in global temperatures since 1880 is statistically significant, and the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 21 May 2013, which states that a linear trend with autoregressive noise is much less likely than an integrated model to be an appropriate model for the series of global temperature, whether they intend to reconsider their statement that the rise since 1880 is statistically significant.

Baroness Verma: I do not intend to revise the statement I made on 8 November 2012 (Official Report, col. WA 224-5), that the rise in global temperatures since 1880 is statistically significant.

Education: Reading Disorders

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what (1) proportion, and (2) percentage, of children and young people were diagnosed with developmental reading disorders in each of the last five years, and to date in 2014.

Lord Nash: The latest available data for pupils with a specific learning difficulty is provided in the table. Figures are taken from the ‘Special Educational Needs in England’ statistical first release: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2013 data for 2014 will be published in July 2014.
	
		
			 Number and percentage of pupils at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs (SEN), whose primary type of need is specific learning difficulty (1)(2)(3) State-funded primary, secondary and special schools in England (4) (5) (6) (7) 
			 Year Number % (8) 
			 2009 78,500 1.1 
			 2010 79,610 1.1 
			 2011 78,135 1.0 
			 2012 74,575 1.0 
			 2013 70,660 0.9 
		
	
	Source:
	School Census
	(1) 2011 to 2013 includes pupils who are sole or dual main registrations. 2010 and earlier excludes dually registered pupils.
	(2 Pupils at School Action Plus and those pupils with a statement of SEN provided information on their primary need and, if appropriate, their secondary need. Information on primary need only is given here.
	(3) Specific learning difficulty includes dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia
	(4) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(5) Includes all primary academies, including free schools.
	(6) Includes city technology colleges, university technology colleges, studio schools and all secondary academies, including free schools. Includes all-through schools.
	(7) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools and special academies, including free schools. Excludes general hospital schools.
	(8) Number of pupils expressed as a percentage of the total school population.
	Equivalent information is not available for young people participating in further education
	Post-16 however, similar information can be found in the ‘Equality and Diversity Report’ which is published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	This report currently does not cover all age groups for all participation types but this should be amended in the next release which is expected in May 2014.
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140107201041/http:/www.thedataservice.org.uk/Statistics/fe_data_library/further_education_skills/equality_and_diversity/

Energy: Energy Companies Obligation

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which previously agreed energy-saving home improvement projects funded through the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) scheme have been or will be cancelled or have had or will have their scale reduced by the changes to ECO in the Autumn Statement 2013.

Baroness Verma: Obligated companies have discretion about how they meet their targets under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO). Energy companies will have reviewed the contracts they have in place following the announcement of the proposed ECO changes in December 2014, in order to be able to deliver the £50 average reduction in energy bills. Which contracts they have cancelled or renegotiated is a matter for the energy companies concerned. In the Autumn Statement we announced proposals for consultation that would see ECO extended to 2017, with new targets from 2015-2017 and a minimum level of solid wall insulation.

Energy: Green Deal

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of (1) the total number of Green Deal assessments lodged in the United Kingdom in 2013, and (2) the total number of Green Deal assessments delivered through the Pioneer Places Project in 2013, resulted in (a) a Green Deal plan or (b) the installation of energy-saving measures without a Green Deal plan.

Baroness Verma: The number of Green Deal assessments lodged in Great Britain in 2013 is published in Table 2 of the monthly Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Official Statistics release:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green -deal-and-energy-company-obligation-eco-monthly-statistics-february-2014.
	The number of Green Deal Plans since May 2013 is published in Table 3 of the same release. The Green Deal does not cover Northern Ireland and, hence, United Kingdom figures are not applicable.
	Currently, the Department publishes the number of energy efficiency measures installed through a number of mechanisms, including Green Deal finance (Table 3b of the monthly release), Cashback (Table 4a of the monthly release), ECO (Tables 5 and 5a of the monthly release) and under the DECC-funded Core Cities project (Table 1.8a of the latest quarterly Official Statistics release, https://www.gov.uk /government/ publications/
	green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great -britain-quarterly-report-to-september-2013). Some of these measures will have been installed following a Green Deal Assessment, but without accompanying Green Deal finance. There are complicated interactions and data lags associated with these datasets that make it difficult to assess exactly how many of these measures were installed without Green Deal finance.
	The provisional number of Green Deal Assessments delivered through the Pioneer Places project in 2013 was published in Table 1.7 of the latest quarterly Official Statistics release. These estimates will be revised in the next quarterly release, which is planned for publication on 20 March 2014.
	The Department has made no estimate of the number of energy efficiency measures installed following a Pioneer Places project Green Deal Assessment.

Energy: Green Deal

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the total number of approved Green Deal advisers are independent; and how many are linked to Green Deal provider organisations.

Baroness Verma: DECC does not hold this information.

Energy: Green Deal

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken (1) to prevent Green Deal organisations from engaging in aggressive or otherwise inappropriate cold calling and doorstep selling, and (2) to prevent other persons and organisations masquerading as Green Deal organisations or as being otherwise government-approved.

Baroness Verma: Green Deal approved organisations must adhere to the Green Deal Code of Practice, which is designed to ensure they operate fairly and transparently, and specifies that they must not engage in aggressive or inappropriate cold calling activities (whether face-to-face, by phone or electronic communication), and must not engage in high-pressure sales techniques. For example, Green Deal organisations must not contact people who have registered not to receive unsolicited selling. They must also ensure that if they get leads from non-Green Deal authorised companies, these firms must have also met our standards. To ensure compliance, the Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body and Green Deal accredited certification bodies regularly monitor participants.
	Persons and organisations masquerading as Green Deal organisations or making any false claims are dealt with under existing consumer protection law, with appropriate action taken by Trading Standards. My Department published a quick guide on 28 November 2013 to help consumers identify genuine Green Deal authorised traders.

Energy: Green Deal

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many sales of properties with Green Deal plans in place were completed in 2013.

Baroness Verma: The number of Green Deal plans by unique property since May 2013 are published in Table 3 of the monthly Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Official Statistics release:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-and-energy-company-obligation-eco-monthly-statistics-february-2014
	The Department does not hold information on property sales and so we cannot answer your specific request.

Energy: Wind Farms

Lord Moonie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of investment in onshore wind farms in the United Kingdom in each of the last three years; and what was the average cost of generation by such farms before subsidies.

Baroness Verma: Since 2010, DECC has recorded private sector announcements of investments totalling £3.8 billion in large-scale onshore wind projects. We do not break those investment announcements down by year
	DECC’s Electricity Generation Costs (December 2013) report sets out the f/MWh levelised costs of onshore wind generation for various commissioning years:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269888/131217_ Electricity _Generation_costs_report_December_2013_Final.pdf.
	For commissioning in 2014, onshore >5MW UK is estimated to have a central levelised costs of £93/MWh, at technology specific hurdle rates.

EU: VAT

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to (1) the European Commission, and (2) any other institutions of the European Union, about the VAT rates applicable to (a) printed books, newspapers and magazines, and (b) digital books, newspapers and magazines; and whether they will place copies of all relevant correspondence on those issues in the Library of the House.

Lord Deighton: Officials discuss a variety of VAT issues with the European Commission, as a matter of course for Treasury business.

FTSE 100: Directors

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of female directors on FTSE 100 boards.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: There are around 229 female Executive and Non-Executive Directors on FTSE 100 boards.
	Women now account for 20.4% of board members in FTSE 100 companies (figures from January 2014), up from 12.5% in February 2011.
	Government supports a voluntary business-led approach for increasing the number of women on FTSE boards and, following Lord Davies’s recommendations, set a target of 25% of the membership of FTSE 100 company boards by 2015.

Gibraltar and Spain

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have received from the government of Spain about the disruption of the Royal Navy parachute exercise in British territorial waters off Gibraltar.

Baroness Warsi: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised his concerns about illegal incursions by Spanish State vessels into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters with the Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Gonzalo de Benito, on 20 February. We continue to protest formally all illegal incursions. Neither this incident nor other incursions change the fact of UK sovereignty over British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.

Gibraltar and Spain

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assurances they have received from the government of Spain that incursions by Spanish vessels into British territorial waters off Gibraltar will cease.

Baroness Warsi: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised his concerns about illegal incursions by Spanish State vessels into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters with the Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Gonzalo de Benito, on 20 February. We continue to protest formally all illegal incursions. Neither this incident nor other incursions change the fact of UK sovereignty over British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.

Health: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they have spent in each of the last ten years on the provision of juvenile idiopathic arthritis services; and how much will be spent in the next full financial year.

Earl Howe: The Department does not collect this information centrally.

Health: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance is available to the families of juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients.

Earl Howe: Carers of young people with chronic conditions can ask a local authority to undertake a carer’s assessment of needs for support in accordance with the Carers (Recognition and Services Act) 1995 and the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000, if they are providing a substantial amount of care on a regular basis.
	The Children and Families Bill includes improved provision for assessments of parent carers of disabled children and young carers, on the same lines as the Care Bill’s provisions for assessing adult carers, by removing the requirement that they must be providing, or intending to provide, a “substantial amount of care on a regular basis” in order to be assessed and by requiring local authorities to assess on the appearance of needs, as well as following a request.
	In addition, the Care Bill includes provision for assessment of young disabled people and carers by adult social services in advance of the young person’s 18th birthday to help prepare for adulthood and plan for transition to adult care and support where appropriate.
	Implementation of these provisions in both the Children and Families Bill and Care Bill is expected to be from April 2015.

Health: Mesothelioma

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research is being conducted into epidemiological data, clinical data and the previous occupations of those who have died, or are dying, of mesothelioma; what identification has been made of the workers who are at the greatest risk; and what further initiatives they are taking to raise public awareness of the disease.

Lord Freud: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) leads on occupational asbestos related matters.
	HSE maintains a long-standing and continuing programme of research into the health effects of asbestos exposure. This includes analyses of the occupations recorded on mesothelioma death certificates, long-term health studies of particular groups and an HSE commissioned case-control study to compare mesothelioma cases and those without the disease (controls).
	The case-control study highlights that former building workers who worked with asbestos prior to the 1980s are among those at highest risk of developing the disease. Those most at risk now of exposure to asbestos are building maintenance workers working on buildings built before asbestos was banned.
	HSE and the British Lung Foundation are funding research examining lung tissue from younger individuals to allow a direct assessment of any current work related asbestos exposures, as well as in the population more generally. This research will also allow an assessment of the extent of any associated future disease risk.
	The risks from asbestos remain an important focus for government. In recent years HSE has initiated a series of successful awareness raising campaigns aimed at those most at risk. (Asbestos: Hidden Killer). Fresh insight research has recently been carried out to inform development of future initiatives aiming to influence behaviour change.

Health: Mesothelioma

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the annual worldwide number of fatalities from mesothelioma; and what sharing of data takes place within the international community.

Lord Freud: The UK Government does not hold an official estimate of the annual worldwide number of fatalities from mesothelioma.

Health: Mesothelioma

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government , further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 26 February (WA 264) on research into mesothelioma, what assessment they have conducted of the new approach to treatment pioneered by Dr Marc de Perrot and Dr John Cho, details of which have been sent to the Noble Earl by Lord Alton of Liverpool.

Earl Howe: Researchers at the University of Toronto have reported findings in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology assessing the feasibility of surgery for mesothelioma after radiation therapy. The study included 25 patients recruited over four years. These findings add to the evidence available to researchers and clinicians on treatment of mesothelioma.

Money Laundering

Lord Wills: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made in recent weeks of laundering in the United Kingdom of assets corruptly acquired in Ukraine; and what action they are taking against it.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Serious and Organised Crime Strategy sets out our commitment to making the UK a hostile environment for money laundering. It is our policy to work closely with other governments to assist them to trace and repatriate stolen assets, and we continue to keep the developing situation in Ukraine under active consideration.

Railways: Franchises

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what scope there will be within the provisions, role and activities of the Department for Transport and Rail North partnership for Rail North and its constituent bodies to influence the forthcoming new North of England franchises in relation to the provision of new and refurbished rolling stock.

Baroness Kramer: The Partnership arrangements the Department is putting in place with Rail North mean that Rail North and its constituent bodies will be fully involved in the development of the franchise propositions for both the Northern and TransPennine franchises. They will therefore have significant scope to influence all aspects of the specifications of those franchises, including those relating to rolling stock, but the final decisions on the franchises will ultimately be for the Secretary of State for Transport.

Railways: Franchises

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether Class 142, 143 and 144 Pacer Units are suitable and appropriate for services within the proposed new North of England rail franchise after 2016.

Baroness Kramer: The Secretary of State for Transport’s March 2012 Command Paper sets out the Government’s policy, which is for a market led approach to rolling stock. Current and future franchise competitions give greater flexibility to franchisees over the rolling stock decisions they make when bidding for franchises.
	The Department does not therefore intend to specify the type of trains to be used in the Northern franchise competition. Since competitions now give greater weight to quality considerations, bidders will need to take this into account in forming their plans and we expect bidders to consider passenger feedback when putting forward their proposals for the franchises in the North of England.

Railways: Rolling Stock

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what principles or rules they apply in deciding whether or not (1) to organise the development of new passenger rolling stock for British railways, (2) to commission such stock, (3) to specify the provision of such stock in franchise competitions, and (4) to fund such stock for existing franchises.

Baroness Kramer: The Secretary of State for Transport’s March 2012 Command Paper sets out the Government’s policy, which is for a market-led approach to rolling stock. Current and future franchise competitions give greater flexibility to franchisees over the rolling stock decisions they make when bidding for franchises.
	Therefore, it is not generally the Department’s policy to specify the provision of specific rolling stock in franchises. However, there may be exceptions made to protect Government investment or to aid the smooth running of the programme. In addition, the Government may agree to fund stock for existing franchises to deliver the Secretary of State’s rail investment strategy.

Schools: Academies

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations run chains of academies; and, of those, how many schools each runs.

Lord Nash: At 28 February 2014, there were 582 approved academy sponsors. A complete list of approved academy sponsors is published by the Department for Education at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-sponsor-contact-list
	We also publish a list of open academies that can be used to identify how many academies each approved sponsor runs:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/open/b00208569/open-academies
	In addition, some approved sponsors run chains of academies that include free schools. These sponsors and free schools are set out in the attached table.
	
		
			 Name of free-school Sponsor (if applicable) 
			 Abbey View School CCT Learning 
			 ARK John Keats Academy ARK 
			 Cambourne Village College Comberton Academy Trust 
			 City of Peterborough Academy Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust 
			 Connell Sixth Form College Bright Futures Educational Trust 
			 Haberdashers’ Askes’ Hatcham Temple Grove Free School Haberdashers’ Askes 
			 Harris Aspire Academy Harris Federation 
			 Heron Hall Academy Cuckoo Hall AT 
			 Hewens Primary School The Rosedale Hewens Academy 
			 Judith Kerr Primary School CfBT 
			 King’s School Russell Education Trust 
			 Marchbank Free School Education Village 
			 Nanaksar Primary School Guru Nanek Sikh Academy Ltd 
			 Nishkam School West London Nishkam School Trust 
			 Oasis Academy South Bank Oasis Community Learning 
			 One in a Million Free School Oasis Community Learning 
			 Perry Beeches III The Free School Perry Beeches 
			 Pimlico Primary Academy Future Academies 
			 Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form Inspiration Trust 
			 St Andrew the Apostle Greek Orthodox School Russell Education Trust 
			 St George’s Academy Titan Partnership 
			 Thames Valley Free School National Autistic Society Academy Trust 
			 The Olive School, Blackburn Tauheedul Free Schools Trust 
			 The Olive School, Hackney Tauheedul Free Schools Trust 
			 The Wells Free School United Learning 
			 University Cathedral Free School University of Chester Academy Trust 
			 West London Free School Primary West London Free School Trust 
		
	
	
		
			 Wye School United Learning

Schools: Careers

Baroness Suttie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage young women in schools to consider careers in public life.

Lord Nash: It is important to further the equality of opportunity in public life to ensure that people in influential positions reflect the breadth of our society. The encouragement of more young women to apply for and take up public roles and appointments should begin at school. Young women need to understand how to participate actively in society and should have the opportunity to meet inspirational role models who have themselves achieved a public appointment.
	The statutory programme of study for citizenship, to be taught in all maintained schools in England from September 2014, will prepare pupils to take their place in society as responsible citizens and contribute to the improvement of their community. This will include the opportunity to participate in community volunteering and other forms of responsible activity.
	We have given schools a legal duty to secure independent careers guidance for all 12 to 18 year-old pupils. We will shortly publish statutory guidance to help schools fulfil their responsibilities effectively. The guidance will place a clear emphasis on the importance of inspiring young people to think about a broader and more ambitious range of careers through more real-life contact with employers, mentors and other inspirational role models.
	This builds on the work of a number of initiatives which aim to strengthen the role of employers in education. Speakers for Schools has delivered 800 talks to pupils in schools from industry leaders and experts, many from different aspects of public life. Inspiring the Future is running an Inspiring Women campaign, which already has 4000 women from a range of occupations going into state schools to talk to young women. The National Council of Women Great Britain aims to interest young women in local, regional and national affairs and ensure their participation in all areas of development and decision-making. The Council works closely with schools, colleges and universities.

Schools: Secondary Schools

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pupils in England attend state-funded schools which have an academically-selective admissions process.

Lord Nash: There were 161,480 pupils in state-funded selective secondary schools in England in January 2013.
	This information can be found in table 7c of ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics’, January 20131.
	1
	Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2013

Severe Wet Weather

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the causes of wet weather in the United Kingdom in January; whether that assessment has taken account of rainfall data from the England and Wales precipitation series; and, if so, what assessment they have made of the causes of previous periods of sustained wet weather since 1766.

Baroness Verma: The recent three-month period from the start of December 2013 until the end of February 2014 is the wettest winter in both the UK record (back to 1910) and the England and Wales record (back to 1766). The Met Office has produced an assessment of the meteorological causes of the recent storms, in the report The Recent Storms and Floods in the UK1. I will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House. This report sets the recent rainfall in its historical context.
	The Met Office periodically assesses the meteorological aspects of selected extreme weather events, most often published in journals such as Weather, the journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. The wider question of how far climate change is an element in such extreme events, requires a specific type of study for which there are relatively few examples. An attribution investigation of UK flooding in Autumn 2000 found evidence that 20th century anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions contributed to an increased risk for this event, roughly doubling the chance of it happening now compared to a century ago.
	The Met Office has started investigating how much human-induced climate change may also have contributed to the extreme weather experienced in the 2013/2014 UK winter season.
	1
	Met Office and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. The Recent Storms and Floods in the UK February 2014. http://www.metoffice. gov.uk/media/pdf/n/i/Recent_Storms_Briefing_Final_07023.pdf

Spain: Territorial Waters

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last discussed with the government of Spain its two exclaves in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, and their relations with the European Union.

Baroness Warsi: Representatives of the British Government and the Government of Spain routinely discuss matters related to Ceuta and Melilla as part of our regular bilateral engagement on security issues, such as organised crime and terrorism.

Town Police Clauses Act 1847

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to repeal the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Clause 60 of and paragraph 29 of Schedule 17 to the Deregulation Bill, currently before the House of Commons, provide for the repeal of a number of the offences in section 28 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.

Veterinary Medicine: Antibiotics

Lord Hanningfield: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to support trade associations such as the National Office of Animal Health on the veterinary use of antibiotics and the prevention of antibiotic resistance.

Lord De Mauley: The Government supports trade associations, such as the National Office of Animal Health, by working closely with them to ensure a consistent and coherent approach on the veterinary use of antibiotics and the prevention of antibiotic resistance, and to ensure that impacts of policy on industry are taken into account.